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September 23, 2015

India will miss its
Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of reducing maternal mortality rate to
109 per 1,00,000 live births, according to National Health Profile-2015, which
was released by Health Minister J P Nadda on 22nd August. Please read the report here

"From an estimated MMR (maternal mortality rate)
level of 437 per 1,00,000 live births in 1990, India is required to reduce MMR
to 109 per 1,00,000 births by 2015. At the historical pace of decrease, India
tends to reach MMR of 140 per 1,00,000 live births by 2015, falling short by 31
points," the report said.Please read the news here

September 03, 2015

NAMHHR member Prerana Bharti (Jharkhand) successfully
organized a two day state level meeting of the Jharkhand Mahila Manch on the 26th and 27th
of August 2015. The objective of this
meeting was to revive the women’s movement in Jharkhand and to brainstorm on
strategies to empower the women of Jharkhand to once again take up cudgels against
the obstacles that continued to enslave them.
The occasion saw stalwarts of the
women’s movement such as Dr. Rose Ketketta, Prof. Malanch Ghosh and Anjali Bose
address a large gathering of over 200 participants representing the 78 members
who form part of the Jharkhand Mahila
Manch. In their motivational
speeches these senior women activists spoke about problems related to gender
equality, gender stereotyping and patriarchal structures that encouraged
detrimental practices such as child marriage, witch-hunting and trafficking of
women to flourish. The meeting also saw
in-depth discussions and brainstorming on strategies covering four thematic
issues - violence against women, maternal health and nutrition, livelihoods and
women’s participation in local governance.
The chief guests who graced the occasion were Smt. Sampat Meena, (DG of
Police, CID) and Smt Mahua Manjhi, President of the Women’s Commission,
Jharkhand.

""ANM is an important link in the
public health system. She is the first stair in the staircase of the whole
public health system" said
Satyendar Jain, Honourable Health Minister, Delhi Government on 10th July on
the occasion of the ANM Convention held in Talkatora stadium in New Delhi from
the 10-12th July 2015. The first of its kind, this convention was attended
by the1500 ANMs (Auxiliary
Nurse- Midwives)from
different parts of the country to discuss their role and career in public
health.

The
Convention was organized by ANSWERS (Academy for Nursing Studies and Women’s
Empowerment Research Studies), in collaboration with Society of Midwives of
India (SOMI), National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human Rights (NAMHHR)
and Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). ANSWERS is a NAMHHR member also.

The
Convention re-iterated the important role played by ANMs who are front-line
public health personnel catering to the needs of the most vulnerable groups in
rural, tribal and remote areas. They are
the single largest health care personnel in the public health system and over
the last seven decades ANMs have worked to enhance public awareness about
health and nutrition and played a vital role in implementing family planning
and immunization programmes.

However
the career of ANMs has not moved forward over the last 50 years and with the
passage of time their growth opportunities have further shrunken. Today, ANMs do not have an independent
identity, management cadre or policy access to promote their career. Hence the goal of the National Convention was
to raise the ANMs’ awareness about their role in peripheral primary health care,
strengthen their collective voice and enhance their professional
accountability.

NAMHHR played
a key role in organizing the ANM Convention and was particularly active with
the media advocacy. NAMHHR organized a press
meet on 11th of June 2015 in the Press Club, Delhi which was attended
by 21 media persons resulting in coverage in 3 local language newspapers.